Two new animation tutorials to help you build your cinematic world.

If you're new to my blog, I'm Christopher, and along with my producing partner Doug, we're creating an animated pilot for what we hope will become a long-running sci-fi adventure series: Escape From Planet Omega-12. Conceived in the tradition of classic space movies like Forbidden Planet and Star Trek, novels like A Princess of Mars, Starship Troopers, and The Martian Chronicles, and animation like Samurai Jack and the '80s fantasy classic Fire and Ice, we're making this for die-hard science fiction fans who've been underserved by Hollywood for far too long. Our goal is to create something both adult and entertaining, meaningful and relatable.

The story follows Tara, a young woman newly married to the captain of an intergalactic privateer ship. When tragedy strikes during their mission to claim a primitive planet teeming with savage alien life, Tara is forced to flee to the surface in an escape pod after her husband and the crew are murdered. Armed with only a few weapons and accompanied by a floating robot assistant, she must learn to survive quickly as the local wildlife tries to eat her and a mysterious, malevolent force hunts her down.

With no provisions, no training, and no proper clothing, Tara must adapt to survive. Help arrives in unexpected ways as she grows into her own person and discovers new adventures while searching for a way back home.

As writer, director, and animator, I blend my video artist experience with traditional VFX, hand-drawn animation, and practical effects – including miniatures and creature puppets – alongside AI to create the world of Omega-12, its inhabitants, and characters. Through this blog, I'll share project updates and tutorials to help inspire you to bring your own creative vision to life.

In this post, we're exploring how to create dynamic environments for your movie, adding depth and enabling fluid camera movement to follow the action.

Part one is available now on my Sci-Exploitation YouTube channel, which you can watch right here but be sure to also subscribe to that channel. 

https://youtu.be/yTe3bQ_O3JA?si=Le7vWhrT-ll3sEfv

Part two is already available for current paid supporters which I'll post separately, and will be released publicly next week. Plus, supporters get access to additional tutorials and content that's too adult for YouTube's guidelines.

Consider becoming a supporter to help us create something truly unique in sci-fi animation while getting immediate access to exclusive content.

Thank you, and enjoy. 

-Christopher "Moonlight"

We have started a YouTube channel for all things Sci-Exploitation. Follow us for sci-fi/fantasy that blends classic, old-school esthetics with a grown-up twist. 

https://www.youtube.com/@SciExploitation

More updates, coming soon. 

In my journey as an independent filmmaker, I’ve discovered that AI, particularly tools like Stable Diffusion, has dramatically enhanced my creative process, allowing me to achieve a level of detail and efficiency that was previously out of reach. While I’m keeping some methods proprietary, I must share that AI has significantly reduced both the time and costs associated with complex tasks like creating detailed character sheets.

For many independent creators, the real barrier isn’t a lack of passion or creativity—it’s the sheer volume of work that big studios can handle thanks to their deep pockets. As a one-man filmmaking team, taking on every aspect of production can be overwhelming. In the past, creating character sheets of this caliber would have been nearly impossible given my other responsibilities. But now, with the assistance of AI and the insights from experts like Mickmumpitz on YouTube, I’ve been able to get 90% of the way there.

Whether you’re an aspiring filmmaker or a seasoned creator, leveraging AI can be a game-changer, allowing you to compete on a whole new level.

Despite what the anti-AI corporate lobby might claim, the transformative methods I’m using are proving to be groundbreaking in my creative process. I’ll be sharing a variety of AI-generated examples with you, illustrating how these tools serve as powerful assistants in the creative journey. However, rest assured, the final product will still be uniquely crafted by me, drawing on the skills and experience I’ve honed over the years as both a traditional artist and a VFX artist.

As you can see, these first two renditions of Tara, the leading lady of Escape From Planet Omega-12, serve as an homage to iconic characters like Ripley in the final scenes of the original Alien, as well as the more alluring figures from the creative minds of Frank Frazetta and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Although the women depicted are similar, their distinct styles and colors make it clear that they could never be mistaken for the same person.

As we continue, it's clear that AI offers limitless variations in body type, hair, clothing (or, as we’ll see later, the lack thereof), and facial features. However, the usual AI challenges are present: malformed hands, color blotches, and missing details that will need restoration—but on which sheet?

With countless tasks like model building, recording live elements, compositing, animating, and wearing more hats than I care to count, I simply don’t have the time to perfect every last one of these. Instead, I’ll import all these variations into Photoshop, selecting the best elements from each. An arm here, a leg there, a face from another generation—all will be copied, stitched together, and painted over to create a refined, consistent, and fully usable character that will look nothing like the initial AI output.

The above example was created using AI training on a custom model, but even this process isn't flawless. Once I’ve perfected these designs, they’ll need to be rendered in high detail for face replacement techniques in the animations, which will also require upscaling.

Her clothing presents another challenge—so how will we tackle that?

As a filmmaker, my philosophy is that audiences come to see something that challenges the boundaries of their everyday lives—pushing beyond what is safe or normal. Why would anyone spend their time seeking out stimuli that mirror their daily existence? Hollywood seems to have forgotten this, aside from the clear market for...

Here’s where I have to limit viewing to my paid supporters whom I appreciate so much. Full post below this one.